The Week in Tools: Toolmonger Top 5

It’s been a busy week here at Toolmonger. If you’ve been spending time in the shop — you should! — and you haven’t had a chance to keep up with Toolmonger this week, we suggest you start with these posts, which our readers helped to select:

This Breadboard Doesn’t Belong In The KitchenA breadboard is an indispensable tool for testing circuits quickly, and since the connections aren’t permanent it’s a good platform for experimentation. With a breadboard and jumper kit like this one from Elenco, plus a source of power and a few electronic components, you’ll be building circuits in no time.

Wiha Drive-Loc
I use these Drive-Loc sets at work for small equipment repair, and I’ve grown to like ‘em. As with other similar drivers, you insert the bit into the handle, but Wiha’s Drive-Loc mechanism allows you to adjust the bit length as well — you get full-length, stubby, and the in-between sizes in one bit.

Swanson AlwaysSharp
A new spin on the traditional carpenters pencil, the Swanson AlwaysSharp contains eight replacement tips in the body, so you can ditch the sharpener. When a lead wears out, just pull out a replacement and swap it with the old one. The tips last longer, too, since they’re not ground up in the sharpener, and a plastic cap protects the tip when you’re not using it.

You’ll probably never find a better deal on pliers than this $12 pack from Harbor Freight — it includes diagonal cutters, needle nose, lineman’s, slip joint, and groove joint pliers. That’s a bunch of gripping capability for a small payout.

Dado Setup With No Guessing
This dado measuring gauge from Infinity Tools tells you exactly which blades and chippers to use for a given dado thickness. Simply find the slot that matches the stock and read the combination next to it.

Help us choose next week’s Top 5!

We’d appreciate your help in choosing next week’s Top 5, which’ll be featured here, elsewhere, and in the podcast as well. While you’re reading TM this week, look out for the “Interesting Post” button at the bottom of the article:

When you see an article that piques your interest, click the button once. You’ll return to the same page, but TM’s software’ll score your click for future reference. We’ll check in on the totals before selecting next week’s Top 5.